Podcasts I love, part 2

Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

The CSIS Energy podcats are sobering, full of insight and sound like they are recorded in dull meeting rooms by people who really do lose sleep about the fate of the world. For instance: they recently hosted the head of the IEA, Nubuo Tanaka, to discuss the IEA’s New Energy Technology roadmap. I also love the incredulous questions from the audience. [iTunes]

The Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy is a must listen especially for overviews of new technologies in the renewable energy space. It can bet a bit tiring and hyperbolic — many guests are at some level a pundit for what they’ve been invited to discuss, but its a great way to hear about things that maybe cutting edge and transformational energy technology, such as enzymatic bio-fuels, and dye-sensitized solar cells. [iTunes]

The Ethical Corporation Podcast is often simply ads for their new reports and whitepapers, but also you get gem interviews with CSR and business ethics heavy hitters like SAB MIller Sustainability Chief Andy Wells talking about water conservation, or a fascinating discussion of Ethics in Sport, or occasionally items about CSR in China, from China Editor (and rather famous/infamous Shanghai resident) Paul French. [iTunes]

Inside Renewable Energy the nerdy podcast from Renewable Energy World is always good for a quick renewable energy technology overview, short interviews with heavy hitters at sector events, or longer form panel discussions, such as the recent CEO Perspectives: A View from the Top episode, or simple news reviews. [iTunes]

Business

As my friend Claude mentioned in his version of this exercise, Mixergy is the place to go to hear from internet entrepreneurs (and sometimes people who have, y’know, actually made stuff). Long form interviews sway on the side of ‘how’d you get rich? Tell me more?’ but are great inspiration for entrepreneurs, people who like building things, and those with ideas. The recent interview with Roz from Fission Strategy was truly inspirational for me. [iTunes]

China

I met the voice of the China Business Podcast through stateside connections, and he’s a interesting guy. The podcast is occasionally a well humored diatribe or observation, but are most recently series of discussions about various aspects, in all their nuance, of M&A in china and the struggles of SMEs. [iTunes]

Popup Chinese is a pretty good language learning podcasts, but they sponsor the recently created Sinica Podcast, starring my main sources of China news & analysis (on twitter or elsewhere). It is a must listen for anyone with any interest in Chinese business/language/culture: while many episodes have been nuanced discussion of recent china news, episodes such as a full hour+ about the Chinese Sci-Fi scene, or a chat with people who know about the state of the environment in China (answer: bleak) make the show truly unique. [no direct iTunes]

Just for Fun

I think the only real shared trait of my favorite podcasts is that they are succinct, subject oriented, well produced and aren’t 2 people and a voice recorder blithering on forever about nothing. This is not true of the following:

The Nerdist Podcast got me with their first live show, when target=”_blank”>Adam Savage from Mythbusters tried his hand at standup (quite successfully). Usually at least marginally funny, host Chris Hardwicke gets famous people to nerd out through an hour + of meandering conversation that host Hardwicke steers just enough to not ever bore me. [iTunes]

This Week in Tech is just like above, only it’s meta commentary from “internet famous” people slinging ad hominems at each other and Steve Jobs, making up rumors and generally TOTALLY MISUNDERSTANDING CHINA. It’s just painful how little the host and their guests understand about the web and the web as business outside of the English language diaspora. Yet I listen, every week. [iTunes]